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FITCHBURG -- Montachusett Regional Transit Authority Administrator Mohammed Khan will remain on paid administrative leave through the end of January, when he is set to retire, as the result of an emergency meeting of the transit agency's advisory board Wednesday afternoon.

After a lengthy discussion, the board voted 4-1 to keep Khan on paid administrative leave, with Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella voting in opposition.

Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, chairwoman of the board, had requested the matter be discussed in executive session, but Khan invoked his right to have any discussion about him conducted in open session.

At several points throughout the meeting, Mazzarella questioned the legitimacy of continuing the meeting when Khan did not have legal representation present.

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Mazzarella argued the board should give Khan that professional courtesy after 34 years on the job, while Wong pleaded to members not to let Khan's professional or personal merits keep them from following proper procedure.

Khan said he asked MART Deputy Administrator Bruno Fisher, who is acting as administrator during Khan's absence and will become interim administrator beginning Feb. 1, for a postponement of the meeting to another date for this reason, but board members said they had not been notified of this beforehand.

Khan, who was placed on paid administrative leave last week by Wong, has come under scrutiny because he has been collecting a $63,761 pension from the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, which he left in 2003, while receiving a salary from MART for the past 10 years.

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Khan currently earns $133,650 from MART.

Wong said she placed Khan on leave because she felt the integrity of the "investigation" -- a word she later chose to strike from the record -- would be called into question if Khan had remained on the job throughout it.

Mazzarella said it is ridiculous that Khan is continuing to be paid given that he has come under fire for being overpaid. Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke, vice chairman of the board, agreed that paid leave "does seem oxymoronic" in the public eye, but said he believes it to be a prudent action.

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Littleton representative and Town Administrator Keith Bergman and Lancaster representative Alexandra Turner also supported Wong's actions and intentions. Bergman also pointed out that one month of pay in this calendar year would not trigger additional repayment under state guidelines.

Wong struck the word "investigation" from the record after Mazzarella repeatedly insisted that the State Retirement Board has never called the situation an investigation.

"By a copy of this letter we are requesting the MART review this matter with you by analyzing your annual earnings and hours worked for each of the years from 2003 through 2013, and determine whether you may have worked beyond the applicable statutory hourly limit or the earnings limit," read a Jan. 9 letter from the State Retirement Board to Khan. "We would then request the MRTA inform us of any determination they make in this matter."

Khan said he has not yet been included in the process. Board members agreed that he would be included after all necessary documents were compiled and reviewed.

The word "investigation" first came into play in the body of a Jan. 15 letter from state Department of Transportation General Counsel Paige Scott Reed to MART Chief Financial Officer Jeanette Wade informing her MassDOT intended "to refer this matter to the Inspector General's office for investigation."

"Right now, I am making no judgment. For all I know, everything is going to completely come out on your side," Wong said to Khan. "Whether it does or not, is not my decision."

Mazzarella and Wong argued on multiple occasions throughout the meeting, questioning whether topics the other was bringing up were appropriate to discuss under state Open Meeting Law.

After the meeting adjourned, Mazzarella raised his voice once more, saying that Khan was being treated unfairly for something that "happens all the time" in public service.

"I've been through a dozen of these things," he said. "We've never treated anybody this way, ever, have we treated anybody this way."

Mazzarella said Khan has brought millions of dollars into the region in his years of service and to have his name sullied in this manner "is absolute B.S."

"It's a tragic situation here, and we're not doing justice at all to this guy, and it's sad that he has to leave here like this today," he said.

Khan said he appreciates Mazzarella standing up for him, but he also said he understands where Wong is coming is from and that MART must be protected.

He said that while the MRPC falls under the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System, MART does not. Of the authority's $100 million annual budget, he said, the state provides only $4 million in contract assistance.

"They provide some of the money, not all of the money," Khan said. "We are responsible for all of our expenditures and responsible for whatever we do."

He said MART remains under local control and is run by the MART board, comprised of officials from member cities and towns.

"There is always a tug of war between the state agency controlling everybody else, and we are independent, actually," Khan said.

If Khan is found to be in violation of state law, he may have to pay back to MART all earnings found to be illegal, and if MART does not act to recoup those earnings, the state will.

State law imposes strict limitations on further public employment following retirement from a public service position, according to the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Guide, and it applies to re-employment by the state, as well as any of its counties, cities, towns, districts or authorities.

Under the guidelines, earnings for post-retirement employment in any calendar year, when added to retirement allowance, may not be greater than the salary currently being paid for the position retired from plus $15,000. Retirees are also limited to a total of 960 hours in any calendar year, and employment must end when either limit is reached. If retirees waive their retirement allowance, the limits do not apply.

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